A Sushi Chef With Michelin Cred Reunites With His Mentor

As executive chef at Melbourne omakase restaurant Sushi Sho, and a former chef at Toronto’s Michelin-starred Aburi Hana, Toaki Kyo is driven by precision, passion and skill – all qualities you’d expect from a genuine sushi master mentored by legendary kaiseki chef Ryusuke Nakagawa. That’s not how he remembers things starting, though.

When he was in high school, his mother encouraged him to “go to other countries and then invite her there” says Kyo, who grew up in the Japanese city of Niigata. “I was like, ‘Oh, what’s going to be the best job for getting to other countries?’”

For Kyo, sushi seemed to be the best path to the world and his ultimate destination was Australia. After high school, he started training at sushi school, quickly finding a love for cooking that transcended his globetrotting goals.

“At sushi school, every single day I’m learning something new, and I can see my skill getting better. At that moment, I felt joy – it’s fun to touch fish, cut fish, make sushi and eat. I loved it,” Kyo says. “I wanted to become much better than just a regular sushi chef. I tried to learn faster than other people, stay at school every single day and sharpen my knife.”

With a growing sushi skill set and an eye on the rest of the world, Kyo moved to Canada in 2017, planning to sharpen his English skills as much as his knife. Here, Kyo would meet his future mentor, Ryusuke Nakagawa. Nakagawa trained at three-Michelin-starred Kyoto restaurant Kikunoi and refined his culinary craft at Florilege in Tokyo. By the time he met Kyo, Nakagawa was in a position to pass on a deep understanding of hospitality and Japanese techniques that would help Kyo develop into the renowned chef that now draws diners at Sushi Sho.

Ryusuke Nakagawa, Aburi Hana and becoming the best

In 2019, Kyo joined the crew at restaurant Aburi Hana before it opened. The team had headhunted chef Ryusuke Nakagawa, bringing him to Canada from Japan. Two months after Aburi Hana opened in 2020, Covid forced it to close its doors, but Kyo and Nakagawa remained, serving takeaway to Torontonians while Kyo absorbed everything he could from his mentor Nakagawa.

“At that time, I was very close to him,” Kyo says. “I saw every detail; we created new dishes, and sometimes he would ask, ‘What do you want to use?’ or ‘What do you want to practise?’ I could tell him I wanted a fish from Japan, and he would make sure we got hold of it. Working with Ryusuke meant I could use ingredients that I could never experience at my old restaurant.”

Kyo and Nakagawa formed a close bond during their time at Aburi Hana, one that moved beyond the mentor and student dynamic to a professional duo worthy of a Michelin star, which came their way in 2023.

“We always hoped that we could aim for a star,” Kyo says. “We were trying everything to make it to that level. Our precision and technique were, I think, on another level. And I was second-in-command.”

A special reunion

The successful duo has since separated, with Nakagawa returning to Japan and Kyo creating his own legacy with the intimate omakase of Melbourne’s Sushi Sho.

The pair has spent years apart, with Kyo building on his teachings from Nakagawa and creating a reputation of his own. For a limited three-night run from August 14 to 16, Kyo and Nakagawa will reunite at Sushi Sho for a special dining experience that Kyo says can’t be replicated.

“The harmony that we create is something that other chefs cannot create because this is our feeling,” he says. “We were doing the same thing for a very long time; we know each other, so if we don’t talk, we know what the other wants to do – we feel each other.”

The full menu for the exclusive dinners is still a secret, but expect Kyo’s signature dry- and wet-aged fish dishes – using techniques he has become renowned for at Sushi Sho, developed while working under Nakagawa. Kyo does say, though, that a couple of former Aburi Hana favourites will make it to the menu, including monaka otoro, a dish of fatty tuna and a crisp mochi cracker, and a sashimi flower made with both lean and fatty tuna.

“These two dishes are something that shows our connection,” Kyo says. “How much feeling we have in this dish is something nobody can copy.”

And for Kyo, there’s another reason these dinners will be so special – the chance to be seen on the same level as the man who has taught him so much. Though Nakagawa began as Kyo’s teacher, the reunion sees the two sharing the spotlight as equals in the kitchen.

“He’s always my mentor,” Kyo says of Nakagawa. “But then, as we do a collaboration, this is not just a mentor and disciple – more like chef and chef.”

Kyo and Nakagawa reunite for a series of limited-time dinners at Sushi Sho, from August 14 to August 16. Book your table here.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Sushi Sho.